CENTRAL VIEW for Monday, May 23, 2011

by William Hamilton, Ph.D.

Obama Plan: Throw Israel under the bus

Last week, Mr. Obama sent a message to Israelís enemies implying that they are free to attack Israel again as they did in 1948, 1967, and 1973. Moreover, during Mr. Obamaís time as president, the further implication is that the U.S. will not come to the aid of Israel as President Johnson did in 1967 or as President Nixon did in 1973.

Speaking on May 19, 2011, Mr. Obama said, in essence, that Israelís current borders are illegitimate and Israel should shrink in size to where it was before five Arab armies attacked Israel on June 5, 1967. Apparently, Mr. Obama is a stickler for nations having legitimate borders.

But give Mr. Obama credit for being consistent. The empirical evidence suggests Mr. Obamaís failure to enforce our southern border with Mexico and his interference with the attempts by New Mexico, Arizona, and California to enforce their borders with Mexico is because Mr. Obama must think our southern border is illegitimate. That means we should go back to our pre-1848 border with Mexico when New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah were Mexican possessions.

Too bad Mr. Obama did not suggest that Israel return to its borders of 1140 B.C. when only the now long-extinct Hittites had a legitimate territorial dispute with the Hebrews of the Old Testament, although, as early as 1025 B.C., the Promised Land was being raided by the seafaring Philistines. Later, the conquering Romans, to punish the Jews for refusing to worship Roman gods, morphed Philistine into the word: Palestine. The Arabs surrounding the Promised Land have had burrs under their camel saddles ever since.

Now, a personal reflection: In the late summer of 1966, famed Israeli General Moshe Dayan came to the Central Highlands of South Vietnam to study the helicopter-borne operations of the 1st Air Cavalry Division. That first evening, General Dayan told us five Arab armies would probably attack Israel sometime in 1967. The Arabs would try to drive his people into the sea.

On a map, General Dayan showed us where Israel was only nine-miles-wide in places and how the Syrian-held Golan Heights put the northern part of Israel under direct enemy observation and artillery fire. But proper use of his limited number of helicopters might enable the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) to move its meager forces to plug the gaps in a life-or-death defense. That is what General Dayan came to learn.

But, just before the one-eyed General returned to Israel, he reminded us that our own helicopter air-mobility depended on the air superiority being afforded to us by the U.S. Air Force and Navy. If Israel were to survive the coming onslaught of five Arab armies, he would be compelled to catch the Arab attack aircraft on the ground just prior to when the Arab tanks would be thundering into Israel. That he did.

As history records, without air cover, the Arab ground attack lasted only six days, leaving the Israeli defenders in possession of the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.

In its Land-for-Peace Initiative, Israel has since relinquished control of Gaza, the Sinai desert and parts of Jerusalem and the West Bank. The Arabs got land. But the Israelis got no peace. Now 85-miles-wide in places instead of nine miles in spots, and effectively in control of the Golan Heights, Israelís current borders, while not ideal, are far more defensible.

But if Israel did Mr. Obamaís bidding and returned to the pre-1967 borders, the only way Israel could survive another Arab ground assault would require Israel to use its nuclear weapons, putting the entire planet at risk of nuclear contamination.

One has to ask what kind of geo-political ignoramus put that May 19th speech on Mr. Obamaís teleprompter.

Nationally syndicated columnist, William Hamilton, was educated at the University of Oklahoma, the George Washington University, the U.S Naval War College, the University of Nebraska, and Harvard University.